Peter Hirtle has been busy. He, along with Emily Hudson and Andrew Kenyon, also has out a new book, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for Digitization for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums. It’s not directly about the Google project or lawsuit, but it does provide a lot of context for thinking about the digitization opportunities and challenges faced by libraries. The bulk of the book is a copyright primer, including a very clear chapter on the remarkably intricate section 108 privileges. The most interesting sections are towards the end, when the book walks through a risk management approach to digitization, and then provides two case studies: oral histories and dissertation.

In a particularly nice touch, the book is available for purchase in physical form (either through CreateSpace or Amazon) or for free download. The goal, Peter informs me, is to recover the production costs. The layout and design of the book are quite elegant, so buy one and give it to your favorite archivist.